I have a lot of feelings that I’m not sure I’ll be able to articulate but I’m going to try.

Growing up as a child in the 90s (I was born mid 80s..like literally smack dab in the middle) things like The Gulf War were abstracts. Things I heard about but didn’t fully hear. It was as real to me as a fairy tale kind of abstract. As an adult I know it’s a real thing that happened with real people and affected a lot of real people’s lives. What I’ve never really realised (and part of this is selective ignorance because I’m not emotionally/mentally ready to really do research and delve into it yet) that this brushed on was America’s part in fuelling the war. Not only fighting but purposefully pitting countries against each other (and we had a part in the Islamic Revolution as well). And it’s a thing that seriously bothers me for reasons I know I can’t put into words because they’re mostly feelings. Of anger. Of shame. But mostly anger. Especially with how ignorant our history classes and by extension the government (because they keep cutting funding for education as one of the first things they cut) keeps us.

Anyway, enough about me.

So this was harder topic wise to read (I’m not sure why since the first one was literally about a war and this was kind of aftermaths of it). It took me longer (I mean the book is about 30 pages longer anyway but that shouldn’t have made as much of a difference as it did) to finish. And has left me with a lot of angry and bitter feelings that really don’t belong in this review.

If graphic novels and memoirs are your thing, I would advise reading this. It beautifully mixes the two mediums in an easy to follow format as well as explaining terms that anyone not familiar with the Persian language wouldn’t understand.